Venezuela is always remembered worldwide for its beauty pageant winners, a “famous” controversial president and… Well, maybe baseball.
But now Venezuelans have another sport they can really be proud of: football.
Not only the “vinotinto” team almost qualified for the 2010 World Cup, finishing two points shy from the fifth place, but also the under 20 squad did well in Egypt.
After knocking out Argentina in the South American qualifiers early this year, expectation was high in Venezuela for the U20 World Cup. Drawn in a difficult group, with Spain and Nigeria, seemed like another failure was on the way to the Venezuelans. Not this time!
After a surprising win at the debut match over Nigeria, in a game that really could have gone either way – given the chances when both teams lost -, Venezuela went on to get three points and a classification to the round of 16 with a blowout over Tahiti. The last game of the group stage was a defeat to Spain, that hit hard with 3 goals and fully dominated the game.
One of the team main players is Del Valle, a fast forward that plays mostly through the right lane of the field and scored four goals during the U20 World Cup, including the one over Nigeria (the first official Venezuelan goal in a Fifa tournament). Del Valle remains playing in Venezuela at Deportivo TáchirA, one of the biggest clubs of the country.
The other forward, striker Rondon, is playing in Spanish side Las Palmas. He is a strong striker that has good position skills in the box. Other notables are goalkeeper Rafael Romo, already in the Udinese roster in Italy and midfielder Peña, that is considered the most promising young player from Venezuela, and is already playing at Portuguese League sensation Braga.
A shocking defeat on the round of 16 to UAE finished the Venezuelan dream. However, becoming a team that is respected in South America can be a real achievement, fans and players from Venezuela are now able to dream of that.
Picture by Suhaib Salem/Reuters
Fabricio, what’s behind these improved performances? Has there been a change to the structure or the approach of Venezuelan football, or is there simply a good group of players coming through at the same time?
Posted by William Heaney | 30 October, 2009, 10:10Hi William. There has been a change in strcture for the Copa América a couple of years ago, new venues were made and the crowd liked the tournament. The President seems to like football, what helps in a country where he is almost a dictator. And the group of players is improving a lot from the last decades. Some clubs are better as well, not only Deportivo Táchira but also Caracas FC made good performances in Libertadores last few years.
Posted by Fabricio | 30 October, 2009, 11:42